“The rule of thumb in student files seemed to be, "If you have nothing negative to say, don't say anything at all.”

“As a rule of thumb I say, if Socrates, Jesus and Tolstoy wouldn't do it, don't.”

“Be true to yourself, be kind to others, be honest, don't say anything if you have nothing nice to say”

“Think of negative speech as verbal pollution. And that's what I've been doing: visualizing insults and gossip as a dark cloud, maybe one with some sulfur dioxide. Once you've belched it out, you can't take it back. As grandma said, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. The interesting this is, the less often I vocalize my negative thoughts, the fewer negative thoughts I cook up in the first place.”

“If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all!”

“Not a word passes between us, not because we have nothing to say, but because we don't have to say anything”